


freedom sings inside of me

by blueseakelp



Series: flowing through my veins [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Bloodbending (Avatar), Death, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, I tried my best, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Kanna - Freeform, Non-Graphic Violence, One Shot, Prison, Prisoner of War, Southern Water Tribe, War, Worldbuilding, all of the waterbenders need serious Hugs, also mentions of genocide, hama and kanna were best friends because they just were, hama is not the bad guy here, i mean it's a prison so there's Bad Stuff, original characters! my babies, the fire nation is generally just not being great here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:33:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25758883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueseakelp/pseuds/blueseakelp
Summary: What if instead of escaping by herself, Hama was able to free the other imprisoned waterbenders?
Relationships: Hama & Kanna, Hama & the Southern Water Tribe
Series: flowing through my veins [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1868689
Comments: 10
Kudos: 60





	freedom sings inside of me

**Author's Note:**

> i just wanted to explore what it would be like if hama and the other waterbenders started a new community together and explored how bloodbending could be used in different types of ways.
> 
> this oneshot is a lot of background and buildup, but i'm creating a series to continue.
> 
> anyway, i hope you enjoy, and trigger warnings will be at the end!

Hama was the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe. 

After the genocide of the Air Nomads and the colonization of most of the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation turned their gaze to the water tribes. After all, finding new land to pillage was the Fire Nation’s greatest specialty. 

Their navy found that the Northern Water Tribe was near impenetrable; it was too far away from any other stretch of land to easily sail to and the waters were always treacherous. The Northern Water Tribe had also sealed themselves off from the world shortly after the war started, hoping to stay neutral and preserve themselves. They were no longer open to trade. Any ship that sailed in their territory would be captured or sunk on sight. 

The Southern Water Tribe was an easier and more accessible target. For one, the ice and terrain was easier to travel through, both by boat and on foot. For another thing, the Southern Water Tribe was originally made up of a collection of smaller tribes, each with their own chief and customs. 

The raids started when Hama was just twelve. At first, they were a show of power and force. Each smaller tribe was targeted individually; the men and waterbenders were killed in battle, women and children were carted away on giant metal ships, homes were either burned down or knocked down, and months worth of supplies were taken, sometimes only to be dumped in the ocean. Every time a raid happened, the surrounding tribes would help the targeted tribe rebuild. Waterbenders would construct new walls and housing out of ice, and new supplies would be shared or traded for. Even tribes who were usually at war with each other would lay down arms to help against the Fire Nation savages. 

The beginning was challenging, but it was the second wave of raids that were the most devastating. These new raids began only five years after the first raids began. Instead of spreading random chaos, the Fire Nation was now specifically targeting the waterbenders, taking them away instead of just killing them. They continued to destroy supplies and housing but generally left the tribespeople besides the waterbenders alone unless they got in the soldiers’ way. 

Along with this new method of targeting the people of the South Pole, the raids increased in fervor; the Fire Nation navy would often attack three or four neighboring tribes’ villages at the same time, making it much harder to rebuild. With the waterbenders being specifically targeted, it took too long many of the villages and encampments to be put back together again, and numerous lives were lost after each raid to the unforgiving cold, especially during the winter months. 

Some tribes tried to hide their waterbenders, tried to keep them safe. But the Fire Nation soldiers, cruel and ruthless, began to employ harsh tactics to get the waterbenders to give themselves up. Hama had even heard of a time when the enemy soldiers rounded up every single child in the village and killed them, one by one. For every one they kept alive, they required a tribesperson to prove that they could bend and give themselves up. 

There were not enough waterbenders in the tribe to save all the children. 

The stories of the horrors that the raids brought spread to each village in the South Pole like wildfire. Most tribes decided that there was more safety in numbers, and merged together. Eventually, most of the tribes had combined into one, the new Southern Water Tribe, although a few outside villages remained. 

The Southern Water Tribe built itself to be strong, with high and strong walls. The remaining waterbenders worked to build something akin to a city, fusing together the customs and design of each former tribe with what knowledge they had of their sister tribe, the Northern Water Tribe. All of the tribespeople worked together to elect a chief and a council, working to represent everyone. The first Southern Water Tribe chief was named Balok, a wise man and an elite warrior.

For a few years, the Southern Water Tribe was prosperous, unified and strong. It was during this time of relative peace that Hama first met Kanna, who she quickly became close friends with. Kanna was from the Northern Water Tribe, but had left when she was sixteen because of their customs regarding women and an engagement she did not desire. She was strong-willed and honest, a great friend. Their families lived near each other in the new tribe, and they found time to work together, healing the sick and injured of the tribe. With Hama’s waterbending and Kanna’s extensive knowledge of herbs and remedies, they made a fantastic team.

While Hama loved to heal with her waterbending, she also had a passion for fighting. Kanna was continually fascinated by Hama’s innovation; she always said that Hama could find a way to beat any opponent with her surroundings. Hama knew it was a skill that could come in handy if the Fire Nation raids ever got bad again. She continued to refine and experiment with her bending every night under the light of the moon, finding new ways to use water that could be useful to her. Whenever the other waterbenders would fight against each other for fun and to keep their skills sharp, she proved herself as one of the best among them.

During the few years of peace, the Fire Nation continued to attack the Southern Water Tribe but found that the new tribe was much stronger and hard to penetrate. Over time, their attacks became fewer and farther between, and the soldiers tended to target the smaller villages that they could overpower. Still, there was a steady stream of people coming into the larger tribe who sought protection from the future raids, and their tribe only grew stronger because of it.

But then came the beginning of the Southern Water Tribe’s downfall. It was because of events out of the tribespeople’s control, a harsher than usual winter, a rough hunting season, and a new and deadly fever that swept through the tribe and claimed the lives of a fifth of their people. It was devastating. 

Some of the council members tried to send a message to the North, asking for help, but they never received a response. They tried a few more times, to no avail. No one knew if the messages even got through.

At one point during the winter, the fever took Chief Balok, and his son, Makka, became his successor. He was a good leader, just as his father, but the times were unfortunate. The Fire Nation realized that their tribe was recovering from a time of weakness, and the third wave of raids began, again targeting the waterbenders and the tribes’ supplies.

This was the first time Hama had fought in a raid before. Her old village had been raided, once, but her mother, Mirro, had kept her from fighting. Mirro had said that Hama was only a child and that she would not stand by as her only daughter died at the hands of those brutal Fire Nation savages. Hama had reluctantly stayed, keeping the impulse to fight under control. Her father, Tosan, had died that day. Witnessing his dead body sink under the waves with the others the Fire Nation had killed, she swore to herself to never stand by and do nothing again. There was never another raid in her village before her tribe participated in the merge, but the hunger to avenge her father was still there, simmering under the surface.

In the third wave of Fire Nation raids, the inhibitions that the Southern Water Tribe had about sending young waterbenders to battle were no longer there. No one was forced to fight, but no one kept the headstrong young boys and girls away from the fight. Everyone understood that this was the only chance the Southern Water Tribe had left to protect their livelihood. Too many of the older warriors had not recovered from the previous winter. 

Still, it was a sad sight, mothers kissing children as young as ten on the foreheads for what could be the last time, holding them close and sobbing as their babies went off to face a ruthless enemy. Hama was always proud of them for being brave enough to defend their tribe, but also sorrowful that they had to grow up this fast. When she was ten, she was still fighting with her brothers and running around the village. These ten year olds have trained to fight against enemy soldiers and have prepared themselves for death. Teenagers, Hama thought again and again, should not have to do the protecting.

The Southern Water Tribe’s walls were weak, and the Fire Nation soldiers brought a new ferocity to their attacks. Again and again, they came to the Southern Water Tribe, each time stealing more waterbenders, destroying more homes, ruining more people’s lives.

These last raids took six years. Hama fought, again and again, as more of her brothers and sisters were taken away on the giant metal monstrosities that the ashmakers called ‘ships’. Their tribe became smaller and smaller, as more of their men were lost, as more of the benders were forced to leave. Fewer and fewer waterbenders were born, and parents forbade any of their bending children from learning to master the art of waterbending, desperately hoping to keep them safe. After two years, almost all of the tribespeople stopped having children altogether, not willing to raise a child who would only be ripped from them before they even reached adulthood. 

Hama saw her once prosperous people become a shell of who they once were. When she battled against the soldiers, she had no mercy for them, only holding hate in her heart for these ruthless invaders. They had taken away her father, her brothers, her friends, her tribe. They did not deserve anything close to compassion, and she would not show them leniency.

After six long years of fighting and death and destruction and  _ those bastard ashmakers taking everything and everyone away from her, _ Hama was the only waterbender left.

Hama was the only waterbender in the Southern Water Tribe.

And then, she wasn’t.

*.*.*.*

The Fire Nation not only had a knack for war, but they also had a knack for making prisons miserable. Hama was tired, so tired of being here. 

It was awful, hanging prison cells as far as Hama could see, all filled with waterbenders. Some of them had been here since the beginning of the raids. Some of them had only been here a few weeks longer than Hama. They kept the children and the elderly in the same awful conditions as adults. 

The air was hot and dry, unforgiving, devoid of any moisture, and the smell that arose in it was terrible, the stench of so many people. They never let anyone so much as wipe down, not trusting them with more water than was necessary to keep them alive, and even when the soldiers gave them water to drink, they were always chained up tightly so that there was no possibility to bend. 

Sometimes Hama wondered why the Fire Nation bothered to keep them alive at all. 

The soldiers certainly didn’t care when they died.

Hama saw two people die during her time in prison, but she was sure there were more deaths that she never saw. 

The first death was the woman in the cell across from her. Hama remembered her from early on in the third wave of raids. Her name was Yojek, and she was one of the oldest women in the village. She was quite a skilled fighter but had been weakened from fever and old age when she was captured, only a year before Hama. When Hama was brought to the prison and saw Yojek, she was sunken and lifeless, so close to death. 

(Hama would never forget how her eyes scrunched close in defeat at seeing Hama in a cell across from her. Years later, Hama still sometimes wondered if that was the final blow that killed her.)

She died three days after Hama arrived, her eyes frozen open in a hopeless stare. It took the soldiers an additional three days to realize Yojek was dead. She never saw them take the older woman away. She just woke up one morning to an empty cell in front of her, empty chains hanging from the ceiling. Hama was too dehydrated to shed real tears, but she still dry-sobbed into her knees. The soft sounds of her crying earned her a handful of hits to the face with the water pole, but the bruises didn’t hurt as much as the ache in Hama’s chest.

The second death Hama saw was in the cell next to her, about a year into her imprisonment, and a few weeks before her escape. It was the death of a young man in the cell next to her. Hama did not recognize him, but he couldn’t be older than twenty years of age. He must’ve fought as a child, and been here for years, she realized at one point. For the first few months of her imprisonment, he seemed strong. He spat in the faces of the soldiers whenever he could, showing resistance at every turn, no matter the punishments he received for it. He was strong-willed and had to have been resisting for a long time, with how long ago he was probably captured. Hama admired his persistence, but sometimes she wanted to slap him upside the head and tell him to stop, that his courage would only earn him more pain. It wasn’t worth it to fight back, it would only wear him down, Hama thought.

She was right. Hama saw the hope and youth slowly fade from his eyes over the course of just a few months. He seemed to realize that he would live here, possibly for decades, and then he would die in this horrible place, just like everyone else. In the few weeks before his death, the look in his eyes shifted from bleak hopelessness to a steady resolve. At this point, Hama had an escape plan forming in her mind. She was glad that the boy was regaining his strength, if he could just hang on for a while longer, she might be able to get him out of here. 

Hama was wrong. She misunderstood. She thought that the boy’s new resolve was to stay strong once again, to survive. It was not.

She woke up one morning to his dead body, one arm mangled beyond belief, the other arm still in the chains that hung from the ceiling, wrapping them around his neck. He had found a way to strangle himself.  _ It must have been a slow death, painful and long. _

When Hama first caught sight of him, she barely contained her scream.

After seeing the prison guards open the door to his cell and drag him away by his thinned hair, Hama made up her mind. She was going to leave this place, and she was going to take every last waterbender with her.

The one thing the Fire Nation bastards had forgotten to take away from their prisoners was the moon. The moon was strength, power for a waterbender, and each full moon, Hama could feel it’s energy enriching her, giving her life. 

Hama remembered her days experimenting with waterbending back in the South Pole, testing its limits. She remembered being able to bend semi-liquids, soups and salve, and also remembered bending mucus out of her patients’ lungs to help them breathe when they had an especially bad fever. She also remembered the teachings of her waterbending master, Master Issak.  _ Where there is life, water always follows. _

Hama spent many days meditating on this one phrase. The wheels began to turn in her mind. 

_ Where there is life, there is water. In all water is life, and in all life is water. _

There had to be accessible water somewhere in this prison that she could use. 

During her puzzling and meditation, she kept getting distracted by the rats. They scurried across the floors and the bars and the chains of her prison, as filthy as the rest of the prison, loud and distracting, continually annoying her. And one day in particular, all of the rats seemed to have decided that they weren’t going to let Hama get any thinking done. Defeated for the time being, Hama had opened her eyes and leant back against the wooden bars of her cell, watching them scurry around.

_ In all water is life, and in all life is water. In all life is water. In all life… _

_ The rats. _

Hama felt stupid for not having thought of it before, of course, the solution to her problem was right under her feet the whole time. The rats were the perfect practice for what she was going to carry out. 

In essence, every single living creature was just a skin filled with water. Hama knew she could bend semi-liquids, even when she couldn’t see them. Why wouldn’t she be able to bend the water within another creature? What would stop her from being able to bend their blood? 

_ Bloodbending. _

Each night, as the moon grew stronger, she practiced this new technique on the rats. She reached out,  _ felt _ every muscle and vein inside of them, and made them  _ move. _ When Hama controlled the rats’ bodies, it felt like there was a thread of life floating between her and them, connecting their wills, their energies, their  _ lives. _ The power was enriching and strengthening, but it also made Hama cautious. Exercising her will over another life was not something to be taken lightly, she knew that much.

But she also knew that to have a chance at escape, a chance at helping her fellow tribespeople escape, she would have to use her bloodbending. There was no other way, and Hama had once made a vow to herself never to do nothing if she could fight to protect her people, her brothers and sisters.

Over the course of a few weeks, Hama steadily perfected bloodbending on the rats, eventually to the point where she could control five of them at a time. She knew she was ready to use it on the guards, but she waited until the full moon, when her waterbending would be at its strongest.

She would leave this place, or she would die trying. Hama was done suffering, done watching her people suffer.

The night of the full moon, just before the sun’s last rays came streaming through the prison’s window, Hama knelt down in her cell and prayed to the Spirits, to Tui and La, for guidance. She asked the Moon and Ocean Spirits to give her strength to succeed, and the wisdom to be restrained. She did not want to anger the Spirits by using their gift of waterbending to stoop to the same level of immorality as the Fire Nation enemies she was fighting against. She would do what it took to defeat them, and nothing more.

That night, when the moonlight came, Hama was ready. She closed her eyes and let it’s sheer power flow through her, stronger than she’d ever felt before. She reached out with her waterbending and felt the blood of each person in the prison, the energy and life pulsing through her as if it was her own. She waited until she had located one of the prison guards, and then she latched on to their energy. 

Feeling the push and pull of the guard’s blood aligning with her own, she moved them closer and closer to her cell, never stopping to open her eyes. Hama could feel the guard trying to let out a sound, but she squashed down the noise quickly. She couldn’t let them alert the others. When Hama felt the guard reach her cell, she moved them so they grabbed their key and unlocked her cell. She could feel them fighting against her, but her will and her force were unrelenting.

When her cell door swung open with a soft  _ woosh, _ Hama once again opened her eyes. She looked at the terrified guard in front of her but did not relinquish control over their body. She climbed out of her cell and plucked the key out of the guard’s hand, before forcing them to their knees. She ripped two strips of clothing off of the bottom of her long prison robe, one to tie the guards' hands with and the other to gag them with.

Hama worked quickly, tying the cloth together with the same tight knots she used to tie bandages with. After making sure the bonds were secure, she lifted the guard into her former cell, using a mix of her bloodbending and whatever brute strength she still possessed. Only when the door was locked behind the guard did Hama let go of her hold on them.

Hama took a quick second to stretch her legs, feeling unsteady but still stronger than she normally did. She walked down the line of hanging cells, trying to find a familiar face. Finally, she noticed one, Kotaq, one of the waterbenders she had grown up alongside. Hama hurried over to him, unlocking his cell with fumbling fingers and grabbing his leg to wake him.

“Kotaq,” she hissed softly, the effort stinging her throat. “Kotaq, I need you to help me.”

He looked at her with surprise in his eyes. “Hama,” he whispered. “How-”

“I can’t tell you right now. You need to help me get everyone out of here. Unlock all the doors and try to get as many people out as possible. We need to get everyone to work together to escape. I’ll take care of the guards.”

“Hama, what-” Kotaq began, brows furrowed in confusion.

“Just do it! We have to hurry, it’s a full moon, we have to be out of here by sunrise.”

Kotaq nodded and scrambled out of his cell, taking the key from Hama’s outstretched hand. His legs buckled under him as he tried to stand, but he steadied himself on the bars of his cell. Hama nodded back and left him to free the others, going to take out the guards. It would be necessary for everyone to have a chance of getting out of here for good.

She once again closed her eyes and tried to feel out the water’s energy pulsing around her. She was able to locate only two patrolling guards.  _ Perfect. _ The security must have become lax; the Fire Nation could never have seen this prison-break coming.

She pulled the guards to her, one at a time, and locked them each in separate empty cells, again tying them up and taking their keys. Hama unlocked two other fellow tribespeople, Hakoi and Suimek, to help Kotaq get the rest of the prisoners out. 

Now onto the next round of guards. 

Outside of the room where they kept all the cells, Hama knew that there must be a good number of reinforcements. She also knew that there had to be enough water out there to sustain all of the Fire Nation soldiers. She found a door and slipped out of the prison room. 

Hama had to blink back a few tears at her first steps outside. 

From the room where all the cells were kept, she walked into a metal hallway, lit with torches hung at precise intervals. The metal floors were cold on her bare feet, and the walls echoed softly with every sound. Hama padded down the long walkway, careful to be as quiet as possible, trailing her hand gently along the wall as she went, feeling for a door somewhere. 

No guards were patrolling the halls, which was a bit odd, but it was good for Hama. She felt out for any water as she continued on, both in the form of life and in the form of pure liquid. The halls only went one way, twisting around like a spiral. Hama followed it. After turning two corners, she finally felt something.  _ Here. _

Hama felt the door handle at the same time as she felt the people inside. Through the thick metal walls, she could sense both a large crowd of people and giant barrels of liquid, water, and something else. This must be where all the guards were. She pressed her ear to the door, hearing sloppy shouts and loud peals of laughter. They were drunk, probably off of whatever was in the other barrels. 

Hama smiled. This would be easier than she thought. 

_ Time to crash a party. _

She slid open the door and snuck into the room. It was a mess hall, and it was full of drunken Fire Nation soldiers, just like she thought. Part of her wanted to be dramatic, to kick down the door and watch the terror in their eyes as she knocked them out, but Hama knew it would make her job a lot harder. The soldiers would have plenty of time to appreciate her skills when they woke up to all of their prisoners gone. 

Hama made quick work of the guards, reaching out and slamming their heads on the metal dining tables, two by two. Within just a few minutes, they were all completely knocked out, probably for the better part of the night.

Now, what to do next? Hama scanned the room and laid eyes on the barrels of water. If she could get all of that to the other waterbenders…

She summoned all the water she could carry and started to make her way back to the prison room. 

Hama was pretty sure that she had taken out most of the ashmakers already, back in the mess hall, but she couldn’t be sure that there wouldn’t be more outside of this weird spiral prison complex. It would be good to have backup; if anyone was strong enough to bend she could really use the help.

When Hama got back to the prison room door, she kicked it down, her hands still twisting to carry a copious amount of water. On second thought, it might not have been her best idea. She heard a few panicked screams from inside before she stepped in.

“Hey, don’t worry, it’s just me,” Hama called, her voice hoarse and cracking from disuse. “I brought water for you all.”

Hama swept her eyes around the room. Kotaq, Hakoi, and Suimek had released most of the prisoners and were working on getting everyone to walk again. There were fewer survivors of the prison than Hama had thought there would be. Out of what must’ve originally been hundreds of waterbenders, there were probably just under one hundred. It was a sobering thought. Too many of her people had died here in this filthy, wretched place.

When everyone saw the water Hama was holding they let out a collective sigh of relief. Some people even let out quiet sobs, overwhelmed at being free, and seeing so much water for the first time in years. Some of the benders who had retained more of their strength took some of the water from the giant bubble and started to heal the sickest and weakest of the group. Others bent it away and into their mouths to drink, giving more water to other tribespeople when their thirst was quenched. Some of the benders even used the water to break off pieces of their old cells, using the wood for walking sticks and splints. 

It was a beautiful sight for Hama to see. Even after all these years, suppressed and shut away, her tribe still knew exactly how to help each other. The love that each of these people had for one another, some of them even strangers, pulled at something in Hama’s chest. 

The fact that they still had the capacity for such kindness towards one another after  _ everything _ they’d been through...it healed a wound in her that Hama didn’t even know she had.

*.*.*.*

After about an hour, the last of Hama’s water was gone, and every person in front of her looked substantially stronger. 

Kotaq walked up to her, Hakoi and Suimek trailing behind him. “We only have a few hours until dawn,” he said. “The people are strong enough to move, and the ones who still can’t walk can be carried.”

“We’ve kind of been appointed as the temporary leaders. Well, unofficially, that is,” Hakoi interjected. “And you’re the one who busted out first. What do we do now?”

Hama stared at the sea of waterbenders, thoughtfully, before turning back to the three in front of her. “My suggestion is that we move now. We could grab some more water from the mess hall on the way and take out any soldiers outside of the building. Then, we get as far away from here as possible,” she offered. “But we need to ask everyone first.”

The three nodded their agreement. “Why don’t we divide up these people into four smaller groups to talk to and take care of?” Suimek proposed. “Each of us will lead one group and the strongest can help the weakest among us.”

Hama nodded. “That sounds good to me.”

The four of them each sectioned off a group to lead. Hama walked around and talked to each person in hers. Some of them were familiar faces, but some of them she couldn’t remember having seen before. 

The last person she came to was the youngest of her group, only thirteen, a girl named Koji. Hama had fought alongside her in battle but barely knew her outside of that. She looked so small, even smaller than a girl her age should, and was crying softly when Hama walked up to her. She sat down beside the girl, pulling her own knees to her chest. They sat quietly side by side, Koji’s sobs silently shaking her shoulders. After about a minute or two, she calmed down a bit. Koji turned her face to Hama, wiping stray tears away.

“I miss my mom,” she whispered shakily. “I miss my mom and my dad and my house and the water.”

Hama felt a lump in her throat. “Is it okay if I hug you?’ she asked. Koji hesitated, before giving a small nod. Hama scooted over, careful not to be too sudden, and wrapped her arms around the girl. 

“I can be your big sister for now, if you’d like,” Hama offered, hesitantly. For a moment, she thought it might’ve been the wrong thing to say, but then Koji buried herself further in Hama’s arms and nodded against her shoulder. 

Hama’s heart broke at that. Koji was so  _ small, _ and the unfairness of the whole situation once again hit Hama like an iceberg. Here was a little girl, who had spent years training to fight, before facing a deadly enemy, only to be captured and cruelly imprisoned in this hellhole. And now, Hama realized, they may not even be able to go back to the Southern Water Tribe. Going back could seriously endanger both them and their tribe, and she didn’t know if that was a risk that they could take. Some of these kids, like Koji, probably wouldn’t see their families for a lot longer.

Hama scrunched her eyes shut and just stroked the young girl’s hair, keeping her in a tight embrace. She couldn’t tell her that now, not when she was still so shaken up from everything. All Hama could do was provide comfort in this moment, and be as strong as she could for Koji later.

*.*.*.*

After they met with each of the freed prisoners, the four leaders gathered back up at the front. The consensus seemed to be that everyone was ready to leave, so they started formulating the last step of their escape plan. 

The moon was still high in the sky, full and glowing, but it was only a few hours until dawn. By then, everyone needed to be as far away as possible. Kotaq and Suimek focused on dividing up the people so that the weakest of them had another tribesperson to help them out of the prison, and so that those willing to fight were towards the front of the group with Hama and Hakoi.

Hama and Hakoi were going over attack and defense strategies with the other fighters, and they were preparing to leave. Privately, Hama and Hakoi also talked about possible places they could go after they left here. Hakoi had suggested that they find an uninhabited island to camp out on while they figured out what to do next. (Hama told her that while ideal, it wasn’t likely that an uninhabited island would just show up out of nowhere.)

With everyone set and ready to leave behind this place, the tribespeople all started to file out, Hakoi and Hama in the front and Kapoq and Suimek at the back. As they went, some of the waterbenders spit on the floor behind them, while others couldn’t bear to look back. After being imprisoned in these cruel conditions for years, they were finally free. They would die before ever going back to this place.

Walking through the spiralling hallways, everyone tried to be as silent as possible. If there were still guards inside the building, they would rather not bump into them now. After a few twists and turns, they reached the mess hall. The fighters went in first, making sure that any soldiers were still knocked out, before signalling everyone else inside. The stronger waterbenders sought out all the liquid they could find and filled empty jugs and skins to carry it all in. Most of the others went straight for the kitchens off to the side, stuffing pots and cups and bowls full of all kinds of food and herbs.

Hama sat in the corner, mostly just taking a break from walking. Her legs were still shaky after using them for so many hours, not having used them in a while. Kotaq, Suimek, and an older man walked over to her, faces a bit grim. She looked up at them, eyes questioning. It was Suimek who spoke first. “I’m just going to lay this out. We’re going to have to kill or imprison every guard and soldier here.”

Hama was taken aback for a moment as Kotaq added on. “If we let any of them get word out to the Fire Nation that we escaped, not only will they look for us, they’ll burn down the entire Southern Water Tribe in an attempt to find us. No one here can leave, even one stray person could destroy our whole home.”

The older man now turned to Hama and held his hand up. “I’m Isaan. I’ve volunteered to stay behind here and handle all the correspondence with the Fire Nation, to give the illusion that there are still guards and prisoners here.”

Hama’s eyes widened. “But what about escaping? Are you really going to stay in this place? I can’t let you do this.”

Isaan smiled sadly, his eyes crinkling. “I appreciate your efforts, Hama, but I don’t have a long time left to live, and I’d like to spend as long of it as possible protecting my tribe.” He crouched down and took Hama’s hands in his, looking her in the eyes. “I will happily stay here for the rest of my life if it means that the rest of my people are safe.”

Hama felt tears once again well in her eyes, but shoved them down and nodded. “Thank you, sincerely,” she said, before getting up to her feet. “We should probably take out these soldiers before we go, then.” 

Kotaq, Suimek, Hama, Hokai, and Isaan each went around the room, discreetly killing each of the passed out soldiers. Hama tried not to feel triumphant, but a part of her also felt good, doing this. They had taken every single waterbender from their tribe, not only the warriors, but also the children and the elderly, and had imprisoned them to rot. They kept her people in horrifying conditions, made them wish for death, and had the audacity to laugh about it while doing it. 

Hama thought that maybe, she deserved a little revenge.

*.*.*.*

Leaving the prison was even easier than Hama thought. Apparently almost  _ all _ of the guards had been partying in the mess hall, only leaving about ten of them outside. It was an extremely stupid thing to do, especially on a full moon when waterbenders were at their strongest, but the Fire Nation obviously no longer thought their prisoners a threat. 

Hama was pleased to prove them wrong. 

When she got outside, under the full light of the moon, she felt enriched as ever and sent up a silent prayer of thanks to Tui for their guidance. Using the rush of invigoration, she closed her eyes and tried to feel the presence of all the water around her. She felt each of the guards patrolling around, and brought them to their fighters, one by one. As each one came and was subsequently pierced through the chest with a shard of ice, she saw many of her fellow tribespeople looking at her with varying expressions. Interest, fear, confusion, all because of her bloodbending. Kotaq at one point caught Hama’s eye and gave her a look that said,  _ We’ll talk about this later. _

Hama couldn’t explain the new type of bending she’d discovered, not until they were all safe, but she was excited to share this with her people. It pushed the realms of what was feasible, and there were so many new possibilities that could come from this new creation. Hama was sure that her fellow tribespeople could help develop this new skill into something even more amazing. After all, bending was an art, bending was  _ life,  _ and water was life, too.

_ In all water is life, and in all life is water. _

And even further, this newfound realization brought together the flow of water and the flow of life together even more. It showed just how much all the life energy was entangled, everything in the universe interconnected and intertwined in a brilliant dance. 

There was just so  _ much _ that could be done with bloodbending, and Hama was eager to uncover it all with her fellow tribespeople, and now, they were closer than ever to freedom from their captivity. 

The life energy in the air was thick and palpable; Hama could almost breathe it in. Between the full moon and the renewed spirit of her fellow waterbenders, Hama felt stronger than ever before, and she could tell that the others felt it too. All connected, their lives all intertwined, their energy pulsing as a steady and strong heartbeat. 

Her people had found their hope once more, and as the last soldier fell, they almost sprinted away from the prison, cool wind flowing through their hair and laughter bubbling on their lips.

Tui and La smiled down at their beautiful children.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> tw: discussions/mentions of genocide, war, imprisonment, death, and violence inflicted by the fire nation, as well as a mention of suicide
> 
> please let me know if i missed anything!
> 
> sorry for my long notes haha, but i hope you enjoyed! updates for this series will be pretty slow, especially because i'm focusing more on other projects, but i will update as soon as i can, i promise!
> 
> i really enjoy hearing your feedback, so if there's anything i can improve on or that you liked, don't hesitate to let me know :))
> 
> my tumblr is @nebulas-and-black-holes, if you ever need to talk or want to stop by. drink some water, stretch out a bit, and please take care of yourselves!!


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